If I were one of the seven dwarfs, I would be Happy.

So normally when I have a bunch of days to post about I try to do it in chronological order, but i have been oddly chipper today, so I think that is where I will start. Actually no, I am way too scattered for that.

So I went to Portugal this weekend. It was amazing!! From the moment we rolled into Lisbon I was unbelievably excited, and immediately after stepping off the bus, I informed everyone that I would not be returning to Madrid.

There were a ton of factors that went into my immediate infatuation with Portugal:

1. The Ocean! Portugal is on the Atlantic Ocean and from the moment we got to Lisbon all of our days were spent by the water.
2. The weather. Apparently it is not always the case, but the whole time we were in Portugal it was warm and sunny, a wonderful break from the immense cold that took over Madrid last week.
3. Portuguese. I love listening to people speaking in Portuguese instead of Spanish. It is probably because Portuguese is familiar to me since my mother grew up in Brasil and has surrounded us with Brasilians. I wish I spoke any Portuguese, and I did try, but it was unbelievably confusing, and everyone spoke fluent English. At one point a woman in a Starbucks yelled at me and Jade because we were trying to speak Portuguese, but apparently it was all Spanglish, and she was like "are you Spanish or English?? I don't understand!! We do not speak Spanish here. I can speak English if you speak slowly." It was really awkward and we apologized and proceeded with English.  It was sort of hilarious... I laughed.
4. The Food! Oh my goodness gracious, the delicious food I ate in Portugal. The fish was AmAzInG!!! I had grilled swordfish (shown above because I was struggling with using the numbered list and inserting pictures) one day while sitting at an outdoor patio in the sun, and I was in ecstasy. We also had some delicious pastries in Belem which were BOMB! (shown below, because struggles)
5. The Hotel/Being away for a bit. At the end of the day I think a big part of why I loved going to Portugal is because I was away from my host mom for a bit, and had a nice get away. Away from school, and Madrid, and the dirty/broken apartment. It was nice to stay in a fresh, clean, fully functioning hotel. And I welcomed the change up from my host mom's cooking.

Basically, it was an awesome trip, and I didn't want to come back here. For some reason I have been uncomfortable lately, and just homesick, I guess. I developed this irrational anger towards my host mom, and was just in a perpetual bad mood. Seriously, I was miserable. When we got back I was so unhappy, I even talked about wanting to move home stays, and I knew I had no reason to be angry at my host mom, but I was just annoyed and sick of everything being dirty and broken. Plus I think it is hard to live with someone, so it may be normal that I have tired of her. 

Sunday, I asked for a broom to clean my room, and Paloma (my host mom), leapt into action and insisted on doing it herself. She swept and mopped in my room and in Jade's. She claimed that she intended to clean on Monday, but that seemed unlikely. I was still annoyed and moody that night, and dealing with her walking around singing and muttering to herself (which she does constantly) made me irrationally angry. But yesterday, something clicked. 

I spent my Monday afternoon watching some shows and finished my FreshFest facilitator interview form and my Summer Adventure Camp counselor application and emailed three people recommendation forms to fill out for me. Then I watched some movies, and relaxed for the evening. So last night at dinner is the first time in a while I was smiley and participating in the conversation. Since then I have just been oddly happy. Maybe it's because I don't have many stressful things going on right now. I didn't have work to get done last night or today, and I am just generally happy.

Today, Jade and I went to an awesome health food store, and two different produce markets and bought a ton of delicious food. Paloma was in the kitchen when we got home, so I went to get lunch at the Döner Kebab place a few blocks from the apartment. It was delicious, and I walked home cheery, and totally ready to take a nap... though I have detoured to write this post and watch about five or six Jennifer Lawrence interview videos on YouTube. 

I am not sure how I will deal with Paloma's vacation which starts on Thursday, it will be hard to have her around all the time. But till then I will just enjoy my mood and not question it. Plus I finally finished reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which I was hating, so that doesn't hurt. Now I am devouring Fight Club. It is great. Unfortunately, I saw the movie first (several years ago when I thought I would never read the book) but it is still fun to read.